


Third Time's The Charm

by herefortommo (emmaisafangirl)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: First Kiss, Fun Park, M/M, Meet-Cute, Mutual Pining, Tessa is here Tessa is queer, ice hockey, they both love children (an important tag)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-29 23:24:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20804711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmaisafangirl/pseuds/herefortommo
Summary: Louis meets Harry twice but goes home alone both times. When he meets him for the third time, he takes it into his own hands.





	Third Time's The Charm

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Look, we're all adults here, so there might be some light swearing, because Louis had never been good at biting his tongue and Tessa, well Tessa is bi, she can swear all she wants.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of 1D boys and this is a work of fiction. You didn't hear it from me, but Larry is real.

“Are you enjoying it so far?” Louis asked her approximately for the hundredth time that day, yet they were only two-thirds into the game. Scratch that, it was one hundred-first time already. Tessa reassured him she liked it. In her exact same words, it was Louis who was rather getting on her nerves, so he should with all due respect shut up and pay attention to the players on the ice. Great, he might as well do that when Harry didn’t bother to show up.

His knowledge of ice hockey was admirable—but like knowledge in theory, because he never played himself. His father used to take him to a local game every Sunday evening, although his mother always complained about him having to get up early for school the next day. Truth to be told, he never paid too much attention to the rules of the game or the score on the scoreboard, when he was a kid, choosing to make regular trips to canteen for snacks instead. He enjoyed the drummers pumping up the audience as well and loved shouting the short poems with them. With no intention to he learned them all by heart and soon was singing with the crowd. It was many years later; he was a teenager already nearing his twenties when his father passed away that he started attending the local ice hockey team’s games willingly, mostly for the nostalgia of it all. He started enjoying it and made it a tradition to go to a game every Sunday evening he was free.

“There are no players on the ice yet. You might not notice, but it’s a break right now.” He raised his eyebrows as far as they could and gesticulated wildly. “See? That’s why I feel the need to ask you frequently, you know nothing about ice hockey, so you’re most likely to get bored out of your mind in the next few minutes if you didn’t already. I should have taken someone else with me.” Dramatic as always, he was.

“Oh, please, you’re acting as if you had other friends. You know you’re stuck with me.” She let him know, not so gently. Louis would disagree, but he knew he had no solid arguments. He must go out with Niall way more for Tessa to notice he had a social life outside his work and their shared flat.

They just got back from the food stalls with their drinks, plus snacks for Tessa who was flirting with the cashier the whole time Louis was ordering - just as expected, and once again they found their seats. They sat right opposite of the cameras with the penalty bench below them. Plus, their seats were on the edge of the row, so it was easy to slip away to the bathroom or to get more food and drinks during the game. Louis did not understand where the man at his work got these tickets. They must have cost him a lot of money, probably meant for VIPs and not Louis’ broke ass. Either way, he was grateful to witness the match from the front rows for change rather than squinting his eyes all the way from the back as he did usually.

**The First Time, Friday 5th**

It was quite a common shift for Louis. The fun centre he worked at wasn’t too crowded that day since it was Friday, and no one wanted to spend the sunny day inside. Louis himself would rather be out with friends, but he needed the money. Plus, his Friday shifts were all right. He didn’t have any lectures that day he would have to worry about and he could squeeze in some reading too, because there were just a few people here and there: some kids on the laser game, an older couple babysitting three of their grandchildren on arcade games and Mr. Wright with his youngest on the mountaineering track; but they considered these regulars at the fun centre as everyone already knew them by their names. Louis just ordered French fries with a side of ketchup from Loreen at a bistro on the other side of the building and started writing a quick text message for his flatmate Tessa to let her know their lovely residence desperately needed some good chocolate. He knew very well she had a seminar , but this was an emergency, wasn’t it? Besides it was her turn to go grocery shopping on Fridays, it was always Louis who went to the local Tesco thorough the week. Not fair.

The front door slid open and Louis automatically shoved his mobile phone under the reception desk. His boss would not like to see him texting while in work. Marble was a nice older lady and she would never shout at Louis for a tiny little mistake like this, he knew that very well, but she’d be disappointed in him and that was possibly even worse punishment for his misbehaving. Marble was like a second mother for him. She knew he came from a big family and all he achieved were just his own accomplishments, so she supported him in any way she could. She let him choose his own shifts just so he could still attend all his lectures and seminars; she gave him the position at the reception desk where he got all the tips from visitors and sometimes she even slipped him some leftover food from the bistro he could take home with him, if it was on an evening shift. He loved her dearly, so the bright smile he sported as he turned his head to the direction of main entrance was not even fake or forced.

The sight he was met with was far from Marble’s typical patterned blouse, high ponytail, and round brown glasses. On his way to Louis was the positively hottest guy Louis has ever seen, the Prince Charming, the main act of Louis’ wildest dreams and fantasies. He was tall, with broad shoulders, chiselled jaw and big, big hands. The black jeans, tight in all good places to the point it must have been uncomfortable, but still very pleasing to look at, with almost see through white shirt tucked in casually and the first two buttons unbuttoned hinted the man must have been a model. The closer he got; the weaker Louis felt in his knees. With just a few last meters separating them, perfectly straight white teeth came shinning Louis way, overshadowing both deep dimples in either cheek, and even the pink full lips with a heart-shaped bow. His two front teeth were bigger than the rest, and it was the most adorable this Louis had witnessed all day. And it wasn’t even the noon yet. Louis saw it all with the corner of his eyesight, his eyes fixed firmly on the green orbs, that seemed to stare right into his soul. He felt himself sweat at the nape of his neck and he unintentionally shivered under the stranger’s gaze. He wasn’t prepared to meet the love of his life on that fine Friday, so he was severely underdressed in striped t-shirt and beige trousers it had something to do with the fact he felt like being stripped bare in front of the man.

And as if the stranger himself was not enough, on his hip a little blond-haired angel was perched. The girl was smiling all the way from the entrance, without a doubt looking forward to spending the day playing at the centre. Louis would be happy too, if he ever got the chance to spend the day playing with this Greek god. Maybe, if everything will have worked out in his favour, one day he will.

“Good morning, Sir,” the girl greeted joyfully, and it took a lot of Louis’ willpower to stop himself from aweing out loud so he would not embarrass her right in the beginning. He loved children in general, which might be his mother’s impact, but this kid was especially sweet, he could tell at the first sight. He wished they had a bowl full of candy for cases like this, but then again, if they did, he would give it all to the first cutie to come in and then regret it later, when he would have to apologise to every other kid to visit the centre.

“Good morning, young lady,” he greeted back enthusiastically in the most serious voice he could manage and shook her tiny outstretched hand. So young, yet so polite already. In Louis’ head there was no doubt the perfect man in front of him taught her all the right manners. He had yet to say anything, but in Louis’ opinion there was nothing that could make him any less perfect.

“Very well, Alex, that’s what I was talking about when showing you how to treat people with kindness,” a deep voice said and Louis was forced to make a double take at the man’s face to make sure it was him who spoke up just moments ago and it was not God’s voice in his own head. “Hello, me and Alex would like to try some of your activities today,” he added, and Louis was too busy imagining their shared future to listen. He was right, just like Alex, this man had manners, too, he was a great role model for her, he could see as much. He was probably the stay at-home parent who read to his children, drew silly sketches with them, played at the playground with them and let them rescue a bird with a broken wing found at the background even volunteering to hand-feed it daily. When the stranger’s face changed from friendly to concerned after a minute of silence from Louis’s end, Louis finally sprang into action.

“Ah, yes, hello guys! Welcome to Marble’s fun centre, the place of entertainment for all ages. We offer day passes if you’re looking to spend the entire day with us, and individual attraction pricing, so it’s completely up to you,” he stumbled upon the phrases he knew by heart on any other occasion, and that, that was a new one for Louis. He was a good speaker and never had stage fright even when he had performed in school plays in front of the entire school. He had always won debates, worked in telemarketing for years when he was still at high school, he was great at job interviews too, his voice never wavering, strong at all times, thoughts forming into words effortlessly. Louis just didn’t stutter, nor was he ever at a loss of words. It took his soulmate to appear for Louis to forget the years of practise.

“Hm, what do you think, Alex?” he pretended to think about his decision, looking the small child in the face and Louis only hoped they did not come to play one round of mini golf like most visitors did these days, he hoped they would get to spend more time with him. Preferably the rest of their lives.

Alex hugged the man harder and in a hushed voice, maybe an attempt at whispering which was not so successful, answered, “All day, please, Harry, I want to go on everything!” Louis couldn’t agree more, all day please, Harry, I want everything with you.

Fortunately for Louis, Harry didn’t deny her request, so two entire day passes were it. Louis insisted it was 25 pounds, which was actually a price for just one adult pass. Turned out Alex was already five years old so it should be another 20 for her pass as kids could only go free if they were three or younger, yet Louis explained it was up to five-year-olds now after they changed the rules a bit, so Alex was free to go. It was a terrible lie, Marble, bless her kind soul, would probably kill him on spot—not for the money lost, but like, for lying in someone’s face. Harry still slipped him 35 and resisted taking any change back. Louis let them both go with detailed instructions that were most definitely not needed since there was an instructor at every attraction. He only stopped when Alex seemed bored to death by his speech. She then led Harry by hand to mini bowling first, leaving Louis and his heart eyes to themselves.

Well, at least for another like, 30 minutes while he ate his well-deserved French fries from Loreen and before he couldn’t wait anymore and decided it was safe to follow them now and not make a fool of himself for bothering them again. There were no other visitors that would need his help, anyway. If anyone were to come inside, and that was very unlikely on Friday morning, Louis would be at his desk in a few seconds.

He waved shyly when he found the pair by the roller-skating rink and immediately made himself helpful by tying the laces on Alex’s skates. He offered to help Harry as well with a visible blush high on his cheeks, but the man just laughed and did so himself. It was the prettiest sound Louis has ever heard. He decided it was worth a shot asking when he made Harry laugh in return. The sweet tugging at his heart felt better than receiving a Grammy would, and Louis practised receiving a Grammy in the shower, so he knew what it would feel like.

“Is there anything I could get you, guys?” He asked and tried to ignore their confused glances, before continuing, “Would you like something to drink or to eat?” He took Alex’s hand and helped her inside the rink while waiting patiently for their answer. That ‘patiently’ part turned out to be rather difficult under Harry’s intense gaze. Louis squirmed a bit and started contemplating all his life choices that led him to this moment.

“I’d like one glass of strawberry juice, please.” Louis nodded in her direction and suppressed the need to poke her little dimples that matched Harry’s. Louis was already head over the heels for them both and he knew them for about half an hour. Could they adopt him into their happy little family?

“Sure thing, coming right up,” he answered her request enthusiastically, even though he wasn’t too fond of the thought of leaving them to get their order. “And what about daddy?” He decided against winking or biting his lip seductively, because first, there are children, Louis for fuck’s sake, and second, he looked like he was having a heart attack whenever he tried to make himself look sexy as Tessa never did not remind him. He still held his breath and listened to his frantic heartbeat, because it sounded so naughty coming from his own lips, he was afraid of Harry’s reaction.

Surprisingly, it was Alex who answered him. “My daddy? I don’t know; he’d probably go for beer. And if we went out with mommy, then he’d probably just order a glass of water. We are lucky he is in work, so we could go out with Harry and your fun park!” Louis’ eyebrows rose unintentionally and not just because she basically called him an owner of this huge complex. He looked at Harry quizzically.

“She’s my sister’s daughter, not mine. I’m just her uncle,” he paused for a few seconds and then added, “But to be honest I wouldn’t mind being a daddy.” All right, so Louis started thinking about the possibility of there being a hidden camera somewhere. Tessa must have set this up on him to get a good laugh of it. There is no way a man who is exactly Louis type would just randomly walk inside this place, charm him with both his appearance and personality and joke about being called daddy on top of it. Gay god is not very generous; thus, this can’t be real. “Sometimes I babysit her to get some cash in my pocket with university being so expensive, you know? Today, I’m free, so we decided to visit this centre instead of staying inside the flat. I have to say it already turned out to be a brilliant idea.” His angelic voice spoke up again and Louis had to look on to floor to make sure he hadn’t melted yet.

“Yeah, that was a brilliant idea indeed,” it slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself and his blush made it obvious this wasn’t meant to be heard. He wanted to hate himself for saying it out loud, but that was before Harry rewarded him with another dimpled smile. Louis wanted to fill those dimples with water and swim in circles inside until he would become too tired to continue and would have to rest on his soft cheeks like on a sunny beach. Yup, must be all melted this time.

“How comes you’re also taking orders now?” Harry asked suddenly, interrupting their honeymoon going on in Louis’ mind. “For one I thought you can get food and drinks that way in the bistro,” he pointed to the left where Loreen was holding her thumbs up at Louis and exaggeratedly gesticulating Harry’s way. Was he too obvious it was recognizable all the way from the other side of the building? “And then I also supposed you’re a receptionist at this place. Do you happen to be a waiter, too?” Louis thought he had been embarrassed before, but it was nothing compared to this, now he was caught red-handed and apparently also red faced.

“Uh, oh,” he cleared his throat to gain some time, “It’s a new service and since we’re just trying it out at the moment, I’m handling it,” Louis explained and rather suspiciously fanned his hand over his face. This blushing thing started to make him uncomfortable.

Harry eyed him unconvinced. “If you say so. Then, it would be a glass of water for me please, um…?”

Harry was asking him something, but Louis’ brain had yet to register the words. “Marry me?” And shit, Louis didn’t mean for this to come out of his mouth for another few months at least. Alex hid behind Harry’s back, but Louis still heard her giggles loud and clear. He desperately tried to recall Harry’s words to answer correctly this time. “Yeah, just joking, of course I’m not Marry, I’m Louis.” There was stifling silence around them and Louis forced himself to smile to move from his slip up.

The grin Harry sported wasn’t helping. “Great! Louis.” He tasted the name on his tongue and Louis never wanted to hear anything else coming from his mouth. Unless he was asking for Louis’ hand in marriage. “That’s all then, thank you so much, Louis.”

Upon hearing his name from God’s mouth again, he snapped into action. “Certainly, coming right up!” He left with cheeky finger guns that were totally uncool and lowered his dateability level by roughly 30 percent.

Looking back at it, that might be the reason Harry didn’t ask for his number when they were leaving. “Next time I will defeat you two at the laser game,” Harry said seriously, making Alex and Louis snicker at each other. There is no way Harry would beat anyone on laser game.

“Yeah, sure you will, curly,” Louis answered happily at the promise of there being a next time seeing his beautiful face.

All too soon, their time spent together was up. “All right, we better get going then. C’mon butter cup, let go off Louis, we have to get you home before your mum calls the police on me, god knows I’ve threatened to steal you from her many times before,” then he turned back to Louis and his facial expression softened. “It was a pleasure getting to know you, Louis, see you next time!” Next time. So it was official there would be a second date. Louis couldn’t do much more than wave before the pair was out of the door.

Suddenly he felt so lonely he never had before. Before he had the chance to cry it out, he dialed Tessa. She picked up on the fifth ring, just seconds away from Louis hanging up on her and dealing with the emptiness in his chest by eating an embarrassing amount of junk food at Loreen’s bistro. Why did he choose to live with someone so irritating voluntarily? He should have picked Harry when searching for a flatmate, what a pity they didn’t know each other back then. “Could you fucking pick your phone up sooner, Tess?” he barked angrily before she could do as much as breathe on the other side of the line.

“Hello to you too, my dearest. What does your heart desire that you decided to call me at this lovely hour of,” there was a longer pause in her speech accompanied by various rustling as she most likely searched for any watch nearby before realizing she had her phone by her ear, “6 PM?”

Louis groaned. “Stop fucking with me, this is serious. My boyfriend might have just broken up with me and I need your advice.” Calm breathing was the only thing heard from the other side. “Tessa? Do you hear me? Alert, alert, I might die lonely and as a virgin, I repeat, I need your advice. Aren’t you happy the time has finally come?”

She sighed heavily. “I hate to break this to you, but first, you are far from being a virgin, and second, as far as I’m concerned you haven’t been in a relationship in like, two years or something, what boyfriend are you talking about here?”

Louis couldn’t believe his ears. How did she not know about him yet? It should be obvious, it should be all over the news by now; there should be fireworks displaying Harry’s name on the sky. This is Louis’ soulmate we’re talking about here, not just any boy. “Harry, my soulmate,” he said as much, “He has the prettiest green eyes you can imagine and shiny hair he must have spent too much money on and bright smile that makes you feel all fuzzy inside and those cute dimples, you should have seen them, Tess. I want to have his children! Maybe we could even adopt Alex if her mother would allow it. The thing is, he didn’t invite me on a date, nor did he give me his number or asked for mine, so I guess we broke up, it’s possible I will never see him again too, but I don’t want to even look at anyone else anymore, I only want him for life, help me!” Louis said dramatically on one or two breaths in the saddest and most heartbroken tone he could manage.

“Great, what you’re telling me is, basically Harry is some pal you have just seen today, isn’t he? Very nice stand up, though, you’re so dramatic someone might even find it funny. Who is Alex?” she responded, and Louis could vividly imagine her forced eye roll just from the tone of her voice.

“Oh my gosh, Tess, Harry is the love of my fucking life and Alex is his cute niece I’d die for, could you keep up?” He stated irritated by his flatmate and her utmost ignorance to such pressing matters. Louis has some serious relationship problems, and she is no help. “I should have called someone else to help me,” he let her know, because he wears his heart on his sleeve.

“Oh, darling, you know very well you annoyed the shit out of everyone else you were friends with, so now I’m the only friend who would pick up and even I contemplate that decision to stay friends with you. Let’s try this once more. What is your problem, my honourable flatmate?” Tessa stayed as calm as ever. Louis admired that personality trait on her; he always lost his temper over the smallest things.

They were the exact opposites, him and Tessa. While he could sleep up to 11am, she was up at ungodly hours of morning watching the sunrise from the roof and writing love poems about the moon and generally just making a lot of noise to ensure Louis wouldn’t get to sleep either. While Louis liked when all the products had their own place in the bathroom, she always left her nail polishes and dental floss on any available surface. The clothes in her closet was sorted by colour while Louis’ closet was, well a mess. She loved literature and writing; Louis was good with people and with numbers. They complemented each other and their coexistence was a pleasant one.

“My problem is, I thought I was good at flirting and quite good looking too, but the prettiest person in the entire universe just let me down gently and now I don’t know how to continue my life without him in it.” The frown he sported could be seen all the way from the bistro where Loreen just finished cleaning up and was closing down slowly to accompany Louis when he went home.

“How does a tub of ice-cream and slandering this Harry sound? That’s what we always do when you break up with your hook up, isn’t it?” It was, in fact, exactly what they did. Tessa didn’t know half of them, but still had a lot to say and it made Louis laugh more often than not. He didn’t always let her know, but he loved her very much, she was his best friend, his partner in crime.

“Sounds nice, minus the gossiping part. I actually like Harry. Thought I had a good chance with him, but then he just left, and I don’t know where’s the problem, really, it all went…” There was a long pause where Tessa waited for him to continue as he didn’t finish his last line, but the completion never came. Suddenly Louis blurted out a quick “Yeah, thank you, sir, I’ll let you know what I think about the proposition. Goodbye,” and the line went dead. He left Tessa staring at her phone disbelievingly. It wasn’t unusual for Louis’ mood to swing from one extreme to other and he tended to be overdramatic, but she was not expecting this. What she was expecting was a lot of whining and complaining until she agreed to make him a breakfast to bed for the rest of the week.

The main entrance opened once again and in came Alex running towards Louis. “Hello!” He caught her in his arms mid jump and then slowly lowered her onto the reception desk’s surface, making her grin happily up at him. “Who do we have here, hm?” Louis asked joyfully and bumped her nose with his index finger. He honestly thought they forgot something and was ready to spend the night here, searching the place through and through, trying to find whatever it might be with Harry while Alex would sleep the night away in the inflatable castle. That was before he noticed Alex was holding something behind her back secretly. “Or more like, what do we have here?” he tried to peak behind her to see but had no luck. Alex laughed victoriously at his failed attempts.

“It’s a gift for you from Harry.” Happy with her own answer to Louis, she still held the mysterious item behind her back. She studied Louis’ puppy eyes and hands clasped in a pleading gesture, before giving in and showing him. “Harry told me not to tell you anything, but we visit this centre often when he looks after me, usually on Tuesdays. This was our first time going on Friday. He knew how much money it is for two tickets and that there is no food delivery and that you did all of that because you’re just nice. He wanted to give you something for being sweet to us and for the discount, so he got you these tickets to ice hockey match he got at his job. There is written who will play against who somewhere on them, but I cannot read yet, so you have to do so yourself.” She said frowning down at the tickets in her small hands, one in each palm.

Louis was ready to give up everything for her and her possibly even more cute uncle. If only Harry told him to cast aside his job and education, he’d follow him anywhere. They would live in a tiny village and raise Alex together. Louis would learn how to bake homemade bread for them, he would teach Alex to read and write and he’d buy her science books and make her the smartest girl in the country. He’d pick berries from their big garden, bake a pie and then put it in a basket, have Alex take a blanket and they would go to Harry who would work on the field to have lunch together with a dessert afterwards. Harry would be all sweaty and hot from ploughing the land all morning. He’d greet Alex with a hug and give her a bouquet he picked up by the river when he let the horses rest and drink water and then he would greet Louis with a kiss on his forehead and each of his cheeks, one on the top of his nose, a longer one directly on his lips and many hot open-mouthed kisses on his neck. Louis would burrow his fingers in Harry’s short curls and tug on them a bit.

He blinked back to reality when the only tugging here was the one on his sleeve where Alex looked at him strangely. He was quick to strike up conversation once again. “That’s very nice of him, but I can’t take those. They probably cost him a fortune, and I didn’t do much to deserve them. Tell him I appreciate that, but maybe you’ll just have to come next time to pay me off by spending the day here, what do you say?” He smiled at the little girl who was grinning again already, shaking her head.

“I can’t take no as an answer. Harry told me not to come back with the tickets, so you must look after me if you don’t want them.” The mischievous little thing!

Louis tickled her tummy quickly, making her laugh. He knew his face showed nothing but fondness as he spoke up again. “As much as I like you, I’ll have to pass the offer. Could you at least tell Harry I said thank you? I love ice hockey and hope to see him there.” He was waiting for the confirmation Harry would be there too, but it never really came.

“I think he might have said something about liking you too, but that might be a secret I shouldn’t tell you, so I won’t but I’ll tell him and we’ll come soon again to see you.” She smiled sweetly and Louis was in seventh heaven. Harry told Alex he liked Louis. This is the best day of Louis’ life for sure, he thought it was that time when he won hundred pounds in a lottery, but that was nowhere near the happiness he tasted today. “I should go before he thinks you didn’t want the tickets and goes home without me.” She giggled into her fist while looking at Louis. “We will see you next time, right? Bye, bye, Lou.”

All too soon she was out the door once more, and Louis was left studying the tickets in his hands. He was so happy at first, but when he didn’t find any phone number written on them and realized there is not just one, but two, it hit him it wasn’t meant to be a date night with that dream of a man. Why didn’t Harry take one and give Louis his god damn number to make it a proper date with holding hands and kisses and then possibly a marriage in near future? Was that too much to ask (!) after a day spent by getting to know each other and declaring their love?

He took out his mobile and hopelessly dialled Tessa’s number, just as Alex returned to Harry nervously waiting on the parking lot and told him Louis says thank you and to give Harry thousands of kisses. If he only knew.

**The Second Time, Sunday 7th**

“What are you talking about? I know a lot about sports! True, I think football is a tad better, because, you know, the players wear those shorts and they jump at each other and hug when they score that’s so cute! But don’t get me wrong, I enjoy this, too. I like how they box in front of the net sometimes or how angry they get when the referee sends them to the penalty bench, yeah, that’s fucking hilarious. Or the way the players are changing every thirty or so seconds, there is no way they could get tired after such a short time, is there? Bet they do this just so everyone on the team has a chance to score the goal, well I mean everyone except the goalie,“ she said, just as the goalie of the opposite team scored over the whole rink. Lion Rob, the mascot of the home team laid on the stairs dramatically with a paw sprawled over his eyes to show he would rather not see the last twenty seconds of the game. Louis couldn’t help but laugh. Both at Tessa and at the mascot.

“Well, actually, the goalie can score too as you can see, but it rarely ever happens,” he said when he tore his eyes away from the plush lion cheering up the audience to look back at Tessa. He kind of wished he had never taken her with him in the first place. He loved her to bits and knew she’d do the same for him no questions asked, well that is if her admirers gave her tickets instead of… other favours. While he still enjoyed her company, the thing he didn’t enjoy were some of her comments to the game and that he had to explain the rules of the games constantly. What is an offside? What does interference mean? Or worse, why are there only four players? How nice it would be if he could be there with Harry, having his hand held, together they would cheer on players, but at the end of the night, it wouldn’t matter who scored more, either way, the winner would be Louis. With such positive thoughts on his mind, he didn’t dare to make any comments on Tessa’s behaviour anymore. One look at her face and he knew for sure not to try anything, preferably not even breathe in her direction. She looked ready to either make fun of him to no end or strangle him in his sleep that night.

He transferred his attention back to the game. Their team lost the face off, but the fourth formation went back to their defensive zone and applied pressure to opposing players. They gained control of the puck and broke out to go on the attack. While in attack zone, they changed the players, Zadina passed the puck back to Simon, who was fouled, but the play continued as the referee signalized delayed penalty. Louis dared a look back to the mascot, and a smile found its way on his face spontaneously. The lion stood all the way up on the iron railing and clapped his big brown paws over his head to the rhythm of We Will Rock You, urging the audience to do the same. People started cheering on their team, seeing as they were very close to scoring. Louis joined in the clapping, signalizing for Tessa to do the same. He went as far as singing his lungs out to the song and completely missed the next goal. He started cheering for their team the way everyone else around him did and shamefully watched the replay on the video cube over the ice rink. It was a nice action, and he was kind of mad at himself for missing it.

“Have you spotted your lover anywhere yet?” Tessa asked him carefully, without a trace of venom or the usual teasing behind her words. That wasn’t what Louis expected. She stopped bringing Harry up after she realized that Louis genuinely liked him. Louis shook his head hopelessly and let out a big sigh. It was the first time she asked him during the game which he was thankful for, but it would be even better if she didn’t ask at all.

He felt like he was just repeating the same words over and over for the past two days. He was sick of himself for saying it again and couldn’t even imagine what Tessa felt. “I could see the chemistry between the two of us [Buy Two of Us on iTunes]. I hoped he would be here tonight or that he might call me after our date, but…” He didn’t finish, just shrugged his shoulders and continued staring sadly into his plastic cup of ice tea.

“Darling,” Tessa placed a warm palm of her hand on his shoulder. Louis mentally prepared for her speech that was inevitably coming. He knew that face, it meant she was about to share some deep truth about life, preferably expose the government of hiding aliens in Area 51, introduce her new theory on their landlord recording them when they shower or worse, trying to pinpoint why it’s the right time for women to take over the world and make men their slaves. But Louis could stay where he was if that ever happened because he was ‘harmless’. “For the love of God, stop calling it a date. You spent the day babysitting his niece, doing creepy heart eyes on him and following him around like a lost puppy. That’s probably the furthest from a date you can get.” And there it was, go on and drag him for being stupid and in love.

Louis wanted to protest that she spent one date sneaking a boy out of his parents’ house and then hiding from them holding hands, but then he didn’t. Discussing her successful dating history wasn’t anywhere on his to do list for near future, unless he wanted to lower his self-esteem even more. He was already in minus points after Harry didn’t show up.

“You know, for a supportive best friend you sure make fun of me quite frequently,” he was trying to make his lower lip wobble to look like he was about to cry but had no luck this time. “If I weren’t shy, it would be easy to find a suitable partner, but you know how I get when I see a pretty boy. My brain turns into mush and I can’t control the things spilling out of my mouth. Somehow, I’m always blushing even before I say something embarrassing and then I scare everyone away. Do you remember how I met Zayn? Liam couldn’t look me in the eyes for a week, because of the thing I said when he introduced me to Zayn—and Zayn isn’t even my type, so you can imagine how it went down with Harry.” He felt Tessa move beside him and started to panic, thinking she would spill his ice tea in his face and shout at him to get it together. He was fully prepared to dodge any of her attempts to slap him, but only managed to spill his drink on the two ladies sitting the row directly below them with his crazy ninja move.

He froze on the spot, his face changing into one of pure horror and his mouth open comically in a silent scream. Tessa had the audacity to start laughing beside him, as if his day wasn’t already bad enough. He got stood up by a pretty boy their team was losing and now it looks like he ruined the night for the nice ladies in front of them. The only thing that could make his night even worse would be a thunderstorm. They got to the stadium by bus, but the last one left twenty minutes ago, meaning they would have to walk back home. Considering Louis’s luck so far, they will get soaked to the bone. 

“Jesus,” Louis wailed and wished for the ground to open up and swallow him and his sorrow. “I’m a gay disaster! Why am I here, Tess, just to suffer?” Before he could start vomiting out any of his somewhat prepared apologies and begging for forgiveness, a loud and surprisingly happy laugh from the ladies themselves stopped him. He was left speechless once again in a span of few seconds. He wondered whether to feel relieved they aren’t mad at him or offended they are openly laughing in his face. He went for confused instead.

“He sounds just like H, doesn’t he?” said the younger one.

“Oh, Gem, was just thinking that! Have you heard all the curses from Harry’s room this afternoon when he was preparing for his date?” responded the older and Louis’ head snapped. Gem and Harry? That would be too much of a coincidence and he was ready to give his luck a second chance.

“Excuse me,” he captured their attention. “I’m deeply sorry for spilling my drink on you. It was an accident, and I’d like to fix it, so here,” he scribbled quickly on the back of his ticket, “is my address to send the bill from the cleaners.” He handed it to the older woman and continued timidly, “I don’t want to sound inappropriate,” he wanted to slap himself for that wording, when their eyebrows rose. “Do you happen to be Gemma and is your brother Harry? The one you were just talking about?” He held his fingers crossed for luck.

“Yeah, that would be me! Hi, I’m Gemma and this is our mum, Anne, nice to meet ya” she introduced herself and then Anne and Louis did the same for himself and Tessa. They all shook hands and while Louis wished it was Harry he was touching; they were nice too. “Are you the boy Harry has a date with tonight?”

Louis choked on his spit, but Tessa was quick to slam his back a few times. He didn’t know whether to be grateful or upset with her. “I am afraid not. He just gave me the tickets for giving him a discount at work. But I mean… I’d love to, I thought he was cute,” he felt himself turning red in front of two other Styles family members just like he did in front of Harry.

“Hey, don’t give up the ship, son,” said Anne and, fuck, the word son sounded good from her. “He explicitly exhibited us from going to this match, because he has something special planned for a boy in the audience so it might as well be you.” Louis bit his lip in anticipation and was ready to give his luck the third and final chance that day. He wanted the night to work in his favour. And after learning how sweet everyone from the Styles family was, he wanted nothing more than to be a part of it.

There was a quick pause where they cleaned the rink and Louis turned his head back to Tessa to see if it bore her yet; it had to come eventually. He watched as her expression transformed from blank into one of panic as she stared up. He was confused for a few moments before she nudged him with an elbow and motioned to the video cube. There was a kiss cam, a casual camera shot with a trashy red frame made of cartoon hearts and words ‘kiss cam’ popping up in sync with Louis’ scared heartbeat. The worst of all were the faces inside, his own and Tessa’s, both equally frightened and grossed out at the thought of kissing each other. Louis shook his head and tried to express they’re not together and definitely not interested in each other. The camera still faced them, and Louis hated the attention, so it was only understandable he suggested, “Tess, what if I gave you a quick peck on your cheek to make the camera shoot someone else.”

Instead of a verbal reply, Tessa took the action into her own hands, literally. She splayed the palm of her right hand over Louis’ face, so he couldn’t see her disgusted face—which he was kind of grateful for—and turned him by 180 degrees to face the other way. Great. Getting embarrassed in front of hundreds of people, just what Louis needed on a fine Sunday evening.

He was slowly opening his eyes, still a bit cautious, because he was fully afraid of Tessa scraping his eyes out. He just about expected the kiss cam and all the unwanted attention to move on someone else, when they made it crystal clear they wouldn’t kiss. What he did not expect, however, was to be faced with Harry, his dream husband Harry, in the lion costume, the animal’s head being gripped by his left paw and pressed to his chest. Before he had a chance to greet the man that he hadn’t stopped talking about for past days, the full lips were on his and he forgot everything else as his eyes slipped closed again. The whole arena erupted in ear shattering applause as they watched the kiss on the video cube and the loudest cheering was heard from a row below them. Louis couldn’t care less. He slid his right hand behind Harry’s ear when the taller man’s paw landed on Louis’ cheek. The hairs on the costume tickled his jaw, but he suppressed the giggle in sake of continuing their kiss. All too soon he had to come up to fill his lungs with oxygen and before he could recover from the out of this world experience, Harry was back in his costume entertaining the crowd.

He didn’t know who won and who lost that day. He just knew he got the best kiss of his life and when he was waiting for Harry in front of the arena after the match, he never came.

**The Third Time, Wednesday 10th**

It was not like Louis was sulking. He just spent hours and hours in a library because of his upcoming finals; that’s what all the responsible students did, anyway. “You are not a part of the responsible student’s group, you know that right?” Tessa helpfully reminded him. Louis deliberately ignored her input and went to sit back at his table with a new cup of coffee in hand. He didn’t normally drink coffee, but if the series he watched was right, this was what smart and hard-working students did. Besides, what else had Louis to focus on now that his love life had forever ended?

Harry never called him, never came to him. He was just playing with Louis’ heart. He called in sick to work every single day of the past week, demanded ramen for dinner every evening and fell asleep before 11 PM. Tessa knew his coping mechanism was wrong and tried to bring him back to his normal self, yet nothing seemed to work this time.

“Louis, you can’t burrow all your problems under a mountain of books,” Tessa said exasperatedly. She was used to Louis being all fifty shades of weird, always fidgety and moody, unpredictable in the worst way, pulling pranks on his friends and yelling out loud and unrelated comments when watching TV series, but she came to know and love his bright side as well. This was just not him.

Louis stood up, not wanting to listen to her anymore. If he wants to be sad about a boy who he doesn’t even know properly, it’s none of her business. Plus, it’s her fault too, if she wouldn’t be so grossed out and gave him just a little peck on that game, the camera would be happy, Harry wouldn’t come and Louis would live happily ever after imagining having babies with a man he only saw once. Now, that would be great, but Tessa had to ruin it all for him. It felt soothing having someone to blame, and he was happy with his choice. Tessa deserved it for her flirting and dating success.

He didn’t want to spend any more time with her, so he went searching endless bookshelves, even though his table was already full of various titles. But what else could he do in the library to avoid her? He stopped now and then to pick one book from the shelf, look through first few pages and then put it back so he wouldn’t look suspicious. He totally forgot the topic he wanted to study for. Suddenly a book from the top shelf fell onto the ground just barely missing Louis’ head. He let out an embarrassingly high-pitched yelp and quickly looked around if there wasn’t someone to pest him for yelling in the library. He almost went for a small victory dance, but his celebration turned out to be early, when heavier and thicker book he didn’t see coming hit him square on the top of his head. He cried out and his hands went to push against the sore spot, ruining his complicated hairstyle that took him long minutes to make in front of the mirror this morning. Tessa was hammering on the bathroom door from the outside and threatening that she will piss herself if he doesn’t open the door and it would be Louis who would have to tidy it up. Needless to say, he opened the door immediately.

He heard a quiet cursing that surprisingly wasn’t even his own and then hurried retreating steps. Whoever it was, didn’t even have the courage to say sorry or make sure Louis wasn’t seriously injured. It was a very heavy book, mind you. Before the criminal got any further, there was a louder thump and a way-more-manly-than-Louis’ yelp. Louis knew that voice. He didn’t have many opportunities to hear it yet, but knew it well.

“I don’t think so, mister.” Tessa stopped him and held him by arm before he could flee. “You have some explaining to do.” She looked at Louis and he just nodded, he was ready to be an adult and have this conversation.

“I’m sorry,” started Harry.

“Yeah, you should be,” Louis interrupted him before he said anything more.

“I know it was a dick move to send Alex to give you the tickets. And the same goes for the match. You went there with the girl and I panicked thinking she’s your girlfriend and then I screw it up altogether, when I didn’t wait for your consent and just fucking snogged you in front of all those people like a Neanderthal. The truth is…” he stopped for a second to study Louis’s face. “Could you at least blink so I know you hear me? You are not even looking at me and it makes me nervous.”

Instead of answering him, he folded his arms and shifted his eyes to look straight into Harry’s. “Great. So, umm, what I’m trying to say is, I’ve liked you for a long time, but always admired you from a distance when I saw you at uni. Then I heard you and your… friend,” he glanced at Tessa frowning at him from across the room, “I guess, talking about you working Fridays at Marble’s centre, so I made a move. I took Alex with me, because I thought it would be harder for you to say no to my invitation on a date in front of her, but then I chickened out… yeah, you obviously know that. And about the match, that was so stupid I know. My mum and sister, they told me they wouldn’t be there, but when we kissed, my mum seemed like, having a seizure over your… um, bottom-”

“Harry, did you or did you not have your eyes opened when we kissed?” Louis wasn’t in the mood to joke around.

“Err, anyway, I panicked again and went home by the back exit, so you wouldn’t see me and I’ve been kind of observing you these past days.” He trailed off and waited for Louis’s reaction.

Louis studied his face for many torturous minutes before his gaze fell upon Harry’s lips and in the next second he was on his lap and kissing him. Loud gasps could be heard around them, but Louis kind of didn’t care for other people at the moment. He had more pressing matters at his hands. “How is it being kissed in front of so many people unexpectedly, Styles?” he whispered to Harry’s ear when they broke away.

“Fucking perfect, please never stop,” Harry whispered back and started playfully nipping at Louis’ neck.

“Only if you close your eyes this time, you creep,” Louis laughed, but went back for another kiss. He was so glad fate gave them a third chance to make it right.

**Author's Note:**

> It would be very nice if you checked out the post I made for this fic on my Tumblr [here](https://herefortommo.tumblr.com/post/188005539891/third-times-the-charm-by-me-herefortommo-louis) :)


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